Huntress
by Allison Shorecoat
Summary: Captain Jack West Jr is certain he knows everything he needs to about his team members. Unfortunately for him though, he only has half of the story.
1. Nightmarish beginnings

Huntress's heart pounded in her chest as she ran through the dark, narrow corridors. With each step her boots slammed into the ground, stirring up dust and sand in a thick cloud which swirled around her legs like fog. She ran with purpose, with her teeth clenched and her eyes focused from beneath her visor. Sweat and dust mixed with the camouflage paint on her face, but there was no time to wipe it away.

The first person who attempted to get in her way went down quickly, killed with a bullet directly to his eye which exploded in a puff of red. He fell just inside the doorway which he had attempted to step out from, and Huntress side-stepped his body without so much as breaking her stride. She kept her gun held at the ready in case she needed to use it again. Perhaps she should have waited for back-up, but in her eyes there simply hadn't been time.

Another man tried to stop her, but before he could shout to raise the alarm or even raise his own weapon she shot him too, leaping over his body as he fell at her feet. She continued on, each step bringing her closer to her goal.

' _Huntress, come in Huntress,'_ her radio came to life in her ear.

She wanted to ignore it, but that would bring more trouble than it was worth, 'This is Huntress.'

' _Where the hell are you? You were ordered to wait for us,_ ' the man on the other end didn't sound impressed.

'I'm inside. Not too far from where the target is being held,' she had to duck down behind a wall as a group of three men crossed the hall just ahead of her.

' _Why didn't you wait?'_ he growled.

'There wasn't time,' she snapped. 'I'm almost there. Just make sure you give me cover on the way out.'

There was a pause on the other end of the line, followed by, ' _Fine, but we will be discussing this insubordination later.'_

'Yes sir,' she muttered. 'Huntress, out.'

Leaving her radio, she peeked around her hiding spot and saw that the coast was clear. Readying her gun she dived out, sprinting the last few steps towards her target. A guarded door was just ahead of her and both guards went down instantly, one after the other. She reached the door and rammed it open, primed and ready for any attack she might have to face.

What she saw on the other side made her freeze in her tracks…

With a sharp gasp Huntress bolted upright in her bed, the blankets tangled mercilessly around her legs like a snake. She kicked them off, desperate to free herself and sat there among the tangled mess, panting as her heart raced wildly in her chest. She shook her head, trying to dislodge the lingering images from her mind.

Swinging her legs over her bed, she sat for a minute, trying to make herself breathe properly before she stood up. Opening the door to her bedroom, she peered up and down the hallway to make sure that she was alone. The last thing she wanted at this time was questions, but thankfully all the doors to the other rooms were closed and dark.

Tiptoeing to the bathroom, she promptly locked herself in side and breathed a sigh of relief. Turning on the tap she gathered the water in her hands and splashed it up over her face to wash away the sweat from her dream. The cold rush also served to calm her nerves slightly as she leaned against the sink and looked up at the mirror.

She frowned at her appearance and shook her head. Perhaps normally she should have been pretty, but now, pretty wasn't her goal. In fact, pretty was the exact opposite of what she needed at that moment. All the same, she missed her hair and the wild way it curled. Of course, like anything in this world, it had driven her batty up until the point where she had been forced to cut it and then she had realised that she missed it.

Grabbing the towel from the rack, she used it to rub the water from her face and threw it haphazardly back over the railing. It was far too early in the morning to bother with being neat and someone would just mess it up later anyway.

She tiptoed back to her room and had just made it through her door when one of the one's further down the hall opened. She ducked inside quickly, in no mood to talk to anyone at this hour and she certainly didn't want to have to answer any questions about why she was wandering the halls.

Throwing herself back down on her bed, she clasped her hands over her stomach and sighed, staring up at the ceiling and the steadily moving fan that was doing very little to cool the air down. Not bothering to put the blankets back on, she kicked them further down the bed, before rolling over and closing her eyes, trying to push herself to go back to sleep.

 _Victoria Station, Kenya, 16th March 2005._

Jack sat in his study, frowning at his white board, trying to focus. But his mind was wandering all over the place and it was hard to form a decent thought. Mostly he thought about Lily. The years had flown by, far faster than he had thought, and now she was nearly ten. He couldn't help but wonder if she was ready for this. Hell, he didn't know if any of them were ready for this. That was why he had to put in the extra research time now, to make sure that he was as well versed as he could be to lead them properly.

Turning away from the whiteboard he opened a thick book to an already dog-eared page and peered down at the images. Again his mind started to wander though and his eyes traced away from the page to the draw just under his desk. He shook his head, and tried to focus again, but he found that he kept on looking to the draw.

With a groan, he slammed the book shut and opened the draw, pulling out the thick folder which he kept his team's files in. Mostly it was for Zoe's use, so she could get access to their medical records, but he kept them locked up in his office to make sure that the others couldn't see them. Not that he didn't trust most of them, it was just he was uncomfortable with leaving highly classified documentation lying around.

He opened the folder and started to flip through them absently. Zoe Kissane, Liam Kissane, Zahir Al Anzar Al Abbas, Enrique Velacruz, V.J. Weatherly, Sky Monster and finally, Benjamin Cohen. He brushed through them all without much care, until he came to the last one in the pile and frowned. He was a little irritated with himself that he kept on coming back to this, especially when he had tried to convince himself to give the newcomer the benefit of the doubt. But in the back of his mind, something just wasn't adding up.

Pulling the file from the folder, he opened it up again and stared at it. It was all straight forward information, all the stuff he had seen before. Date of birth, date of enlistment, blood type, basic descriptors, current service record, date of transfer. There was nothing out of the ordinary at all and certainly nothing that should make him suspicious. He forced himself to put the file away, trying not to think anymore on it. It didn't do anyone any good for him to continue to dwell on his mistrust. Lily certainly didn't like it.

A knock at his door caught him by surprise and he scrambled to put the files back into his draw, nearly dropping them in his hurry. Slamming the draw shut he opened the door and came face to face with Zoe. She smiled at him in her usual cheery way, her eyes lighting up.

'Are you ready?' she asked.

'Ready for what?' he was so flustered that he had totally forgotten about anything else that might have been happening that day.

'Training. Come on, it's your turn to lead,' she gestured to the front door, where the rest of the team was no doubt waiting for him.

'Oh, of course,' he shook his head at his stupidity. 'Sorry, I'll be right with you.'

She raised an eyebrow, but smirked and walked away. He watched her go, before turning back to his desk and looking at the closed book that he should have been studying. There was so much to do, and increasingly less time to do it all in.

With a sigh, he stepped out of the comfort of his study, whistling for Horus to follow him. He would have to finish his research later.


	2. Ready, set, go!

_Airspace over Sudan, 14 March, 2006,_

 _6 Days before Tartarus._

The mission was about to begin.

All these years, all the training and the research and sleepless nights had led up to this exact moment. D Day, Zero Hour, the final countdown. Whatever you wanted to call it, it was here.

The tension in the air was so thick that you could have cut it with a knife. Everyone was silent, even Big Ears and Noddy, who had spent most of the trip here joking. But as they began their final descent, all humour was gone. The team stood by their swamp runners, ready to jump in and drop as soon as Sky Monster gave the go. Lily stood between Jack and Zoe, clutching the latter's hand tightly. Wizard stood a bit further back, gripping the straps of his back pack tightly, more nervous than any of them. He wasn't someone who was accustomed to combat. Booby traps yes, but gun fights? He usually preferred to leave that up to Jack.

As he felt the plane begin to drop, Jack risked a glance back at his team. All of them stood ready, grim-faced but determined. Five men, each representing very different countries. Ready to board his swamp runner with him, Zoe and Lily was Pooh-Bear, while Big-Ears, Noddy and Fuzzy stood ready to board with Wizard. Jack would drive the first boat and Stretch would drive the second. He stood not to far from Jack, gripping his sniper rifle's harness with one hand and the edge of the swamp runner with the other, probably for balance.

Taking a deep breath, Jack keyed his radio, 'Monster, how far?'

'Less than a minute to touch down boss. Hope you poor bastards are ready,' Sky Monster replied.

Jack nodded, 'alright team, get ready. We'll be touching down any second.'

He turned to Stretch, 'are you sure you know how to drive that thing?'

Stretch didn't look amused at the lack of faith, 'I'm pretty sure.'

'Have you done it before?'

Stretch bowed his head and smirked, 'naturally.'

 _29th October, 1996_

It was difficult to hear anything over the roar of the swamp runners fan as it skimmed lightly over the deep marsh lands. Pre-dawn light was just starting to creep over the horizon, staining the black sky with paler blues. Hopefully they could beat the rising sun, as the darkness was the only cover they had out here on the marshes.

Huntress crouched out the front of the boat, her eyes trained on the thick swamps on either side of the marsh. Dense canopies of trees, impossible to see past, twisted all around them almost like a fortress that could have hidden anything. Her gun rested at her side, ready for use but hopefully not needed. Behind the wheel of the swamp runner sat Archer, guiding them steadily through the reeds. They were alone in the boat, the recon mission having only needed two. And they were the best that the larger team had.

'Do you think we'll make it back before sunrise?' Huntress called back.

'We should,' Archer replied, turning their boat through a narrow patch of water. winding around a muddy embankment before turning up a narrow opening which took them from the broad open marsh plains into a much smaller estuary river. 'Why?'

'I don't like how exposed we are out here,' she cast a nervous look around at the low hanging trees and the impenetrable darkness beyond the first few branches. 'And because there's only two of us…'

She was cut short by Archer's laughter, 'I think we're more than capable of handling ourselves. That's why they sent us, remember?'

Rolling her eyes, she didn't even bother to grace him with a glare, 'this is why you'll die young.'

They pressed on, navigating expertly through the steadily narrowing pathways of the river. The sun continued to rise and the world around them became brighter, revealing a little more of their surroundings. Huntress bit her lip as she studied the map. They were still several miles out from the rendezvous point and rapidly loosing darkness and even though they were less exposed in the estuary than they were in the marsh, rivers never did make the best defensible positions.

Abruptly she stood, surprising Archer, 'Let me drive from here.'

'Why?' he asked, even though he was already getting up from the seat.

'Because you're a better shot than me,' she took the drivers chair and gestured for him to head to the front of the boat. 'Keep an eye out and make sure you cover me. The last thing you need is for your driver to be shot in the head.'

He grumbled slightly, but didn't argue. Grabbing his barrette from it's stand by the wheel, he picked his way down the boat and crouched, ready and waiting. Huntress steered them expertly through the water ways, one of her hands resting near her own gun, just in case. The higher the sun rose, the more on edge she became. Even Archer seemed more tense, holding his gun at the ready as he continuously scanned the tree line.

'How far out are we?' he asked, keeping his voice as low as he could.

'Three miles,' she replied absently, movement to her left side catching her attention. 'We should be in the clear in a few minutes so long as we can get through this bit undisturbed.'

Of course, it was right as she said that, that the tree's to her right exploded. It wasn't a large blast, but it was enough to catch the boat at the side, causing it to spin crazily, then flip, sending them both crashing into the water with twin splashes. Huntress ignored the instinct to cry out when the blast hit, instead managing to use that moment to suck in a huge lungful of air right before she hit the water. She was sent spiralling down into the murky gloom, narrowly missing being hit by the massive fan of the swamp runner. All around her was darkness, and soon she lost all sense of balance as she spun sickeningly in the gloom. Silt from the river bed was stirred up, swirling around her in a thick cloud, distorting her vision and making it even harder to figure out which way was up.

Trying not to panic, she forced herself to stop spinning and tried to reorient, looking for the surface. It was only the still flickering lamp on the swamp runner which gave her any indication. With a few powerful kicks, she burst up right beside the capsized swamp runner. It was floating pitifully, it's engine still buzzing away but unable to propel it any further as it churned the water all around her. Clinging to the rubber sides, she flicked the water from her eyes, wrestling to draw her gun from her belt.

The water beside her burst up and for a horrible moment she thought it was an attacker. But it was just Archer. He too grabbed the sides of the boat for support, looking around at their ruined boat and the burning trees. Plumes of smoke billowed up into the air and burning leaves were floating slowly down around them, hitting the water with small ripples. The now damaged propeller was making a horrible shrieking noise, as the ruined pieces of metal scraped together.

'Was it an isolated mine?' Archer asked, spitting out some of the horrible, salty swamp water.

Huntress pulled herself a little further up on the boat, trying to see over it, only to duck down as a bullet pinged into the rubber right by her head. She splashed back down into the water.

'I'm going to go with no,' she gasped, still a little breathless. 'Are you armed?'

He held up his free hand which clutched his pistol and she held up her own. Two against who only knew how many, armed with nothing but small handguns and half drowned from the river. Not good odds, but then again, Huntress was sure they had faced far worse.

'Are you ready?' she asked.

'Always.'

 _14 March, 2006,_

 _6 Days before Tartarus._

As soon as the _Halicarnassus_ touched down, it's rear loading ramp opened, revealing the immense flat plains of the swamp. A sharp wind buffeted everyone standing in the cargo bay, carrying with it the thick, muggy scent of mud and brackish water.

Jack wasted no time on the view. Kicking away the support strut that held his swamp runner in place, he grabbed the sides and pushed. His team followed suit and, with the aid of the Hali's tow lines, the boats began a rapid, but controlled descent to the swamp floor. His boat hit the marsh with a splash, but thanks to luck and skill, they didn't capsize. The second boat hit right beside them, also staying afloat and Jack released the breath he had been holding. They were ready to go.

Releasing the tow lines, Jack allowed the plane's mechanisms to haul the now empty hooks back inside. The ramp closed behind them and Jack heard the engines roar as they began to power up to take off again.

'We're in the clear Monster,' Jack called into his radio. 'Stay close. I'll let you know when we need pick up.'

'Sure thing boss,' came the reply.

With that, the Hali powered off down the road, taking off gracefully into the sky. Jack took the last quiet moment that he had before the storm hit to turn to his team. The two swamp boats floated just close enough to each other that Jack could talk without raising his voice and he took advantage of this.

'This is it everyone. Just a few miles away from here is our destination point. Stick together and remember all of our training. There won't be much opportunity to talk when we get in there,' he looked to all of them. 'We go in hard, we go in fast and we do what we came here to do.'

They all nodded grimly, as ready for this as they were ever going to be. Not wanting to waste any more time than necessary, Jack exchanged one last look with Wizard, then gunned the engine of his swamp runner, speeding off towards the mine.


	3. I spy with my little eye trouble!

_29th October, 1996._

'I spy with my little eye…something beginning with T.'

'Tree.'

Huntress didn't even bother to open her eyes when she answered the stupid question, already knowing exactly what it was. It was hardly difficult to figure out considering that there was nothing else around them aside from trees, water and the occasional dead body. The fires from the blast had finally stopped burning and the air was gradually clearing of smoke, allowing the strong midday sunlight to beat down on them unfiltered.

Kicking her legs against the side of the boat, Huntress sat and looked down at Archer who was still draped over the capsized base, his hands tucked under his head. She nudged his leg roughly with her foot and he spared her a brief sideways glance.

'I'm bored,' she announced. 'We've been floating here for hours.'

He heaved a sigh and sat up as well, leaning back on his palms, 'it could always be worse.'

'How?'

'We could look like those guys,' he nodded down at one of the dead bodies which was floating in the water just by the shore line.

She could hardly disagree with that, considering that the body had the back of it's head blown completely apart. It was one of five deceased combatants, an insurgent group that had tried to ambush them, but had failed. It had been a simple fight really, as their opponents had underestimated them at every turn, having obviously thought that the explosion and subsequent capsizing of their boat would have softened them up. Instead, Huntress and Archer had fought back with even more vigour than usual and had taken down their attackers quickly and precisely. So now all they could do was sit on the bottom of their ruined boat, waiting for someone to come and pick them up.

Archer collapsed back and squinted up at the sun, 'perhaps we should just start swimming?'

'And risk being eaten alive by crocodiles? No thank you,' Huntress slumped back beside him. 'We just need to sit tight and wait. They'll come for us. Either that or they think we're dead and we'll be left here to rot on this stupid boat.'

He glared at her and she snickered. Silence descended, broken only by the occasional cry of a distant bird and the constant chirping of insects in the leaves around them. Both of them remained alert, listening out for anything that was out of the ordinary, anything that could signal either a rescue, or another attack.

It was Archer who heard the approaching boat first, and he sat up slowly, peering down the river to the east. Huntress also pushed herself up and followed his gaze, her ears catching the soft buzz of an engine steadily coming towards them.

'It could be Avenger,' she whispered.

'It's coming from the wrong direction,' he shook his head. 'We should take cover.'

'Where?'

'At the shoreline,' he pointed to the thick trees and branches that had hidden their attackers earlier. 'Quickly, go.'

They both dived off the boat, hitting the murky water with twin splashes. As quickly as they could they swum over to the trees which lined the shore, covering the short distance in only a few seconds. Huntress wasted no time in heaving herself up and out of the water, using the branches as support. Archer followed suit and they both scrambled as far back into the trees as they could, making sure that they were fully concealed by the web of leaves and branches. They were just in the nick of time for, right as Huntress pulled herself up one final branch, helping Archer up behind her, the mystery boat arrived at their position.

This boat wasn't a swamp runner like theirs had been. Instead, it was a small, silver dingy, which was hardly ideal for traipsing through swamps and marshes. Perhaps it could have been mistaken for a simple fishing boat, had it not been for the guns and various other weapons that the men on board were carrying.

They pulled up alongside the capsized swamp runner, cutting the engine as they did. Watching with baited breath, Huntress clung tightly to her branch, only partially aware that she was still gripping Archer's sleeve. He held on just underneath her, watching through a tiny gap in the leaves as one of the men on board hoped lightly over onto the swamp runner. He stood with his hands on his hips, studying the scuffed and bullet dented underside with a scowl.

'Can you see who it is?' Archer whispered, craning his neck to get a better look.

Huntress narrowed her eyes as she studied the mans face. He was a relatively small fellow, with sunken eyes and high cheekbones, although the latter were mostly hidden beneath his thick, black beard. She frowned, then had to clap a hand over her mouth to stop the sharp gasp when she recognised him.

'It's Mustafa Zaeed,' she breathed and Archer snapped to look up at her.

'The Black Priest?' he gasped.

'Yes.'

Using Huntress's branch for balance, Archer pulled himself up a little further so he could see what she could and he swore under his breath. It was indeed the Black Priest and he didn't look happy. Jumping from their swamp runner back to his boat, he shook his head.

'Check the bodies,' he ordered. 'Make sure you identify them all.'

His orders were followed promptly, and Huntress and Archer had to back themselves further up into their tree as the boat was steered closer to their hiding place. Each body in the water was pulled up and checked over methodically, before they were dumped back into the swamp. Clearly they had no interest in recovering their dead at all.

Zaeed watched impatiently with growing anger as each body was turned over and positively id'd. When the last one had been thrown back into the water, he turned to glare at the swamp runner.

'So they're not dead in the water,' he growled. 'Which means they're still alive.'

'Perhaps they're trapped under the boat?' someone offered.

Zaeed didn't look impressed, 'well, why don't you check?'

The other man went to disagree, but didn't get much of a chance before Zaeed turned to him and shoved him roughly over the side of the boat. The man burst up spluttering, but Zaeed was hardly sympathetic and simply pointed to the swamp runner. There would have been no point in arguing and the man obeyed, paddling around their dingy so he could duck underneath the swamp runner's rubbery sides.

Huntress risked a look down at Archer, 'what should we do?'

'How much ammo do you have left?' he asked.

She turned out her pockets and shook her head, 'nothing. You?'

'I have one bullet.'

'You mean one round?'

'No, one bullet,' he held it up so she could see and they both scowled at it. 'Most of mine was with my rifle, which was on the boat.'

'Same,' she grumbled. 'So, what do we do? We have one bullet and a potential shot at killing the Black Priest. Do we take it?'

He bit his lip, but she could already see what he was thinking. It was the same thing that she was thinking. One bullet for one target and a shot that was difficult but certainly not impossible for either of them. The issue they faced was that Zaeed was not alone. That single shot would reveal their location and would undoubtedly that they would both be killed by Zaeed's companions. And that was assuming that they even succeeded. However unlikely, it was always possible that they could miss and then they would both die and would have achieved nothing at all.

'I think it's too risky,' he whispered at last.

'As usual, you and I are on the same page,' she agreed. 'I guess we just have to hope that they move on-'

'Search the area!'

'Shit,' they both hissed in unison.

 _14 March, 2006,_

 _6 Days before Tartarus._

Zoe sat with Lily, comforting her gently as the little girl continued to cry, mourning the loss of one of her guardians and someone who was arguably one of her closest friends. Big Ears sat opposite them, trying to provide some sort of comfort despite his own grief at the loss of Noddy. She wouldn't have been surprised if this loss hit Big Ears the hardest out of all of them, considering the strong bond that the two had shared. All she could hope was that her brother would remember his training and would be able to keep it together until the mission was over. For most of them, mourning would have to wait. But for Lily, it couldn't and that was alright.

The rest of the team sat not too far away, all concerned for Lily, but not wanting to crowd her. Pooh-Bear was the closest, sitting on a couch just beside Fuzzy, watching and waiting to be told if there was anything that he could do. By comparison, Stretch was the furthest away, slouched forward over one of the tables, rubbing his brow absently as if he was lost in thought. Jack was no where to be seen as he had gone to his bunk to shower and sleep. It was what the others wanted to do as well, but none of them could bring themselves to leave Lily.

When the little girl sniffled and reached out for a tissue, Zoe quickly moved the box closer to her, only to see that there were no tissues left. She looked to her brother, seeing if he had anything, but he just shrugged and shook his head.

'Give me a second honey, I'll go and find more,' Zoe whispered, moving to gently push Lily off her lap.

She paused when another box materialised in front of her face and she looked up to see Stretch standing by the couch. He smiled softly and placed the box down on the table beside them after Lily had taken another fistful of tissues.

'Thanks,' Zoe smiled and he nodded in acknowledgement as he took a seat beside Fuzzy.

A door opening nearby made them turn to see Jack emerging from his room. He glanced around at all of them, seeing Lily's continued tears and everyone else's grim faces. He sighed and came up to them, dragging one of the chairs over so he could sit.

'Alright everyone,' He finally broke through the solemn silence, 'I know that this isn't easy on any of us and getting off to such a bad start isn't good for moral, but we can't let ourselves fall apart this easily. We have to see this through to the end.'

They all nodded, even Lily who had looked up when he had started speaking. Jack smiled sadly and rested a hand on Big Ear's shoulder, providing the best comfort that he could as he looked around at his forlorn team.

'We can do this guys,' he emphasised. 'I have faith in each and every one of you and I have faith in what we can do as a team. We just need to keep on going. Are you all with me?'

They all looked to each other fleetingly, then back to Jack before they all nodded as one.


	4. Crocodile Dundee

_29th October, 1996._

Huddled as they were in the tree, unarmed and with no where to go, it was safe to say that Huntress and Archer were totally screwed. They looked to each other nervously, in a silent question about what they should do but there was no obvious answer. All they could do was watch in tense silence as the boat was piloted closer to the shore line to deposit men into the trees. They started on the bank opposite them, but all too soon the boat turned and headed right for them.

Huntress looked back over her shoulder, judging how long it would take them to move further back into the thick trees. The water of the river was starting to give way to thick smelly mud not to far from them, dotted with branches and roots which intertwined thickly. Not to mention there was a rather large, ominous looking log only a few meters away from them, nestled in the mud. Movement from their position would have been too risky.

Cursing silently, she adjusted her position on the branch and withdrew her serrated KA-bar knife. Archer did the same.

'We need to move,' he whispered.

'There's no where we can move to,' she replied.

'We can't stay here,' he pointed out, watching in agitation as the boat drew closer, its occupants ready to jump out.

'We don't have a choice.' She adjusted her grip on her knife, watching and waiting.

The boat swung right in against the bank and three men jumped out. One, a tall handsome fellow with a neat beard and well muscled arms led the way, followed by a hulking goliath of a man and small weasel of a fellow. They made their way into the tree line, pushing aside the branches and the leaves.

'Three…' Huntress started to count down the seconds until they were caught.

Beside her Archer had shifted his weight, ready and waiting to strike.

'Two.'

She shifted her balance, her eyes narrowing as she listened to the men get closer and closer.

'One.'

The branches in front of them parted and suddenly they were face to face with the three men.

Huntress was more than ready for them. With a cry she leapt off her branch, right at the first man, the giant. Her knife slashed at his cheek, opening a long bloody gash as she narrowly missed his throat. He roared, taken off guard, and stumbled to the side, separating from his group.

Archer used the moment of chaos to jump right in. Using the roots underfoot to propel himself, he sprang right into the leader of the group. This man was a little more ready than the other had been and blocked the swipe of his knife with ease.

The giant who Huntress had leapt at was quick to gather himself and before she could right herself the next strike, he grabbed her wrist and tried to pry the knife from her fingers. Deftly Huntress tossed the knife to her other hand and aimed a vicious stab at his gut. He moved just in time, releasing her wrist and tossing her slightly off balance. She stumbled across the roots, her feet struggling to find even ground. The man followed and Huntress danced out of the way to avoid being hit by large, powerful fists. She tried to get her own counter strike in, but despite his large size he moved quickly, keeping up with her without too much trouble. They moved further and further back into the trees, away from the water and, to Huntress's dismay, away from Archer. With only two of them, splitting up was the worst thing they could do. She tried to adjust her path to double back to him, but her opponent was unfortunately smart as well. He saw what she was trying and quickly moved to stop her.

Huntress growled and lunged at him again with her knife, aiming right for his eye this time. But she misjudged the strike and he swerved around her, sending her stumbling as she was unable to right herself in time. Her boots slipped on the even surface and before she knew it, she was falling.

With a cry Huntress fell into the muddy water, snatching to find some sort of handhold, but to no avail. Her attacker followed after her, leaping down with the clear intention of finishing her off then and there. She sat up and clumsily scrambled away just in time and his knife bounced off a thick root.

Covered in mud and soaked to the bone, Huntress raised her own knife, but he clearly had the upper hand on her. He roared and leapt forward, slashing at her wildly, not with the intention to hit her, but instead to drive her back. She ducked around each clumsy swipe until her feet caught in the mud and she slipped and fell again, right beside the log she had seen earlier. At once she froze, staring at it as it slowly opened it's eyes and she found herself gazing into the cold, reptilian eyes of a giant salt water crocodile. It started to move, lazily at first, as it pulled itself from the mud, its huge body starting to shift and stir the water around it.

Huntress glanced up and saw that her attacker hadn't actually noticed this. He was to busy priming himself to stab her in the throat. The crocodile continued to move and she watched it with baited breath as it's huge jaws started to open, revealed the horrible, stained teeth that could easily crush her body.

Then, with horrifying ferocity, it moved, launching itself around at her. She moved right in the nick of time, flinging herself out of the way. Her attacker wasn't so prepared. When the crocodile moved, he paused, stunned, only to find himself right in its path. Huge jaws locked around his legs and he was yanked violently off balance and dragged down into the murky water. He screamed in agony and fear as it happened, and Huntress, who by now had dragged herself back up into the tress, could only watch on in awe as the enormous predator yanked the man into the water and started to roll him. The water heaved and foamed, gradually turning red with the mans blood. She could hear the cracks of his bones breaking and his desperate shrieks and gasps for air until suddenly, all sound ceased. The crocodile stopped rolling and thrashed the dead man sharply a few more times before it started to eat him.

Huntress watched in disgust, before a nearby shout made her snap up in alarm. The half man half weasel was balanced precariously in the tree near her. He had clearly seen most of the fight and was now watching in horror as his companion was torn limb from limb. Thankfully his pause was enough to Huntress a slight advantage and she swung at him, catching him unawares, even if it was only for a measly second. They crashed against the tree trunk as Huntress tried to wrestle his gun away from him.

Then suddenly, there was a cry from the boat, 'Rehan, Khalid, enough. We have to go.'

The man she was fighting frowned then, grumbling to himself, shoved her away from him and scurried off through the trees. As stunned as she was, Huntress wasn't about to let him get away that easily. She took off after him, but he reached the edge first and leapt into the waiting boat. Zaeed was still there, visibly agitated as he stared down the river. She followed his gaze and saw, to her relief, that it was another swamp runner. Reinforcements.

The man who had been fighting Archer also paused when he heard the shout and turned to Zaeed in confusion, 'what?'

'Rehan, leave him. More of the Jewish pigs are here,' Zaeed snapped.

Rehan growled and dived for the boat, landing neatly where he scooped up a machine gun and took aim. Thankfully Huntress was ready and she leapt clear, ducking behind a tree trunk right as he opened fire on them with a fury. Archer jumped down into the water as the leaves and low hanging branches were shredded under the heavy fire.

Over the din of the gun, Huntress could hear as the little boat's engine was fired up and she could practically see it speeding away. The gun fire continued for a few more seconds, then it stopped. Huntress peeked out from behind the tree just in time to see the tiny silver dingy disappear around a bend in the river.

She cursed loudly, just as Archer popped up from the water and heaved himself up onto the cluster of roots and branches. He looked up at her, then over at the approaching swamp runner.

'It's Avenger,' he sounded relieved.

Huntress wasn't so sure that that was a good thing.

With a roar and whoosh of water, the swamp runner pulled up alongside them. Seated out the front, looking like he was ready to rip them limb from limb, was Major Itzak Meir, their commanding officer. Given his expression, Huntress wondered if would be a better idea to turn herself over to the crocodiles.

He glared at them both, 'get in. Now!'

 _15th March 2006._

Huntress sat on the floor, staring at her phone in silence. She knew that she wasn't supposed to call him. It was a terrible idea and could potentially cause more trouble than it was worth. But she was so desperate to hear from him that she was willing to overlook these potential risks.

A little nervously, she dialled Archer's number.

The phone rang and for a minute she thought that he wasn't going to pick up. Then, right before the phone was about to cut to voice mail, he answered.

'Hello?' he sounded groggy, like she had just woken him up.

'Ben, it's me,' she whispered. 'Are you alone?'

There was a pause, followed by a rustle and footsteps until at length he spoke again, 'I am. Is everything okay?'

'Everything's fine. I just…I just wanted to hear from you. How are you going?' she asked.

She could practically see his tired smile as he spoke, 'I'm alright. It's been a fairly rough day though.'

She made a noise of sympathy and she could have sworn that she heard him laugh. Leaning back against the wall behind her, she gazed up at the ceiling.

'This whole thing sucks,' she grumbled.

'I couldn't agree more. Three years is far to long,' he muttered and she smiled softly.

While she would never admit it out of fear that it would damage her long standing, tough reputation, she missed him dreadfully. Three years was a long time not to see someone and sometimes it felt like an eternity since she had seen him face to face.

'Aya? You still there?' Ben asked, suddenly sounding confused.

She shook herself, 'yes, sorry. I was just thinking.'

'Is it anything I should be concerned about?' she could almost hear the joking tone.

Smirking she toyed with laces of her boots, 'oh it's nothing.'

'You sure?'

'I'm sure. I just… sort of miss you, that's all,' she muttered.

'Oh dear, are you going soft on me Huntress?' he chuckled and she shook her head.

'Shut up you twit,' she mock scolded and he laughed, before cutting himself off quickly as if he was worried that someone would over hear him.

On the other end of the line, Ben paused a moment longer so he could gather himself properly, 'I should probably go. I don't want to wake anyone.'

'Yeah,' she agreed half-heartedly, not really wanting to end the conversation just yet.

He sighed, 'it will be over soon Aya.'

'I know,' she muttered. 'Off you go then. I'll see you soon.'

'You will,' he said as he prepared to hang up, before he paused. 'Aya, I miss you too.'

The line went dead and Aya let her phone fall into her lap, resting her head back against the wall. She sighed and closed her eyes, silently hoping that the risks of their brief conversation hadn't been too great.


	5. Awkward

p class="p1"span class="s1"em29th October, 1996./em/span/p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Of all the dim witted, careless and reckless soldiers I have had to deal with, you two are by far the worst,' Avenger was so angry that Huntress couldn't help but wonder how long it would be until he had an aneurysm. 'Personally I think you two deserve new call signs. Dumber and Dumbest. It certainly suits you better.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Huntress and Archer flinched at Avenger's scolding tone as they stood to attention in front of him. Neither of them had had any chance to change, so they were forced to stand there in their creased, filthy uniforms which reeked of swamp water while Avenger chewed them class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'You had one job. One. I sent the two of you because I thought that you could handle it alone. But no, you had to go and make everyone's lives more complicated,' he growled, glaring at both of them in class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'To be fair, we didn't exactly plan the bomb…' Huntress started but was cut off by Avengers less than impressed class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'No, you didn't plan it. But you didn't plan for it either. And because you didn't plan for it, I had to waste valuable time and resources rescuing you two idiots.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"A few of their team mates who had been walking past at the time, winced at his tone and were swift to turn in their heels and flee, leaving the sorry pair to stand there alone. Avenger was far from finished with them by this stage, in fact, he was just warming up./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad if you had actually accomplished anything through your stupidity. But instead, you allowed Mustapha Zaeed, one of the most dangerous people in existence, to get away,' he class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'We only had one bullet,' Huntress tried once again to say something in her defence, but shut up when Avengers glare went from toxic, to just plain class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Hardly words that can be used in your defence Huntress. You had an opportunity and you didn't take it,' he said class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'But, it would have given away our location and then-' Archer tried to defend their decision as well, but Avenger rounded on him too quickly for him to finish his class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'And then what, Archer? You would have died? You wouldn't have made it back to your precious fiancé´? Well, guess what, because of your decision, who knows how many good men and women are going to be unable to make it back to their families because Zaeed is still at large. Every day that that man walks free is another day where he can plot to claim a life,' Avenger was absolutely class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"By now Huntress and Archer had realised that there was nothing they could do or say to defend themselves. They both just bowed their heads, silently agreeing to just endure the scolding. Avenger just shook his head and ran a hand down his face, looking more tired than angry for a brief class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'I shouldn't have to waste time explaining how much is at stake to you two. I thought that you understood the importance of what we were doing but I was clearly wrong. Now all you two can hope is that this mistake does not come back to haunt you.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Huntress wondered if it was a good idea to point out that he had effectively jinxed them now, but she decided against it when Archer kicked her foot. Avenger didn't notice this small break in formality, luckily for them and he just continued chewing them class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"At length he paused and sighed, 'I have to let my superiors know that we failed in our task out here. I don't imagine that they'll be happy with the way this turned out.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Are we dismissed sir?' Archer asked class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Unless you're volunteering to stay and explain.' Avenger glared at them. 'You are both dismissed.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"They saluted and scurried away as fast as they possibly could, heading straight for the barracks. When they got inside they were greeted by a collection of their comrades who appeared to be waiting for them expectantly. One of them, a huge brute of a man stood when they entered and clapped class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'I think it is safe to say that you made our dear commander angry,' he laughed. 'Well done.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Beside him stood another woman, the only other one on the team aside from Huntress. She smiled and shook her head at the pair of them, crossing her arms./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'No judgement from you Aphrodite,' Huntress said and Aphrodite class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"She certainly brought justice to her name sake. Tall and well muscled, she was a striking woman, with beautiful sea green eyes and flowing dark hair that she had currently tied back in tight, regulation bun. Even in her uniform she was easily the most stunning creature that Huntress had ever laid eyes on. Sometimes she hated her for it. After all, it was impossible to not compare yourself to someone who was so beautiful that they were named after the goddess of class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'I didn't say a word Huntress,' Aphrodite said sweetly. 'Archer, did you hear me speak?'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'No I didn't.' Archer patted Huntress on the shoulder with a sly smile at class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Huntress rolled her eyes and pushed past them to her bunk where she retrieved a clean uniform from her locker. Tired from staying out all night with their reconnaissance mission and angry with herself for their failure, all she wanted to do at that moment was clean herself up and go to sleep, but it seemed that the people of her team had other class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"As she was pulling out a new undershirt someone appeared beside her and perched on the edge of her bunk. She groaned and looked at her visitor with an unimpressed scowl. It wasn't Aphrodite which honestly was a disappointment because she could handle her. This time her guest was a young man. He was handsome, in a dangerous kind of way. It was the kind of handsome that could draw you in and make you weak at the knees, make you willing to do just about anything that he wanted. He smiled, revealing perfect white class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'That was quite a telling off,' he said and Huntress hung her head in class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Yes Daniel, it was a good telling off. I know that,' she grumbled and he class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Oh don't worry about it. Happens to the best of us, and quite frankly I've been waiting for this for ages. Sometimes I think that you two are too good to be true. At least now we know the fabled Huntress is, in fact, human.' Daniel smiled at her and she rolled her class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Do you have a point? Because I need to shower.' She snatched up her bundle of clothes, ready to storm class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Actually I do.' He sobered slightly. 'We head home next week and I was wondering if you wanted to get a drink with me?'span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"She froze, not expecting to hear that. Slowly she looked around at him in total disbelief. 'I'm sorry?'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Do you want to get a drink with me? Simple question,' he repeated./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"She didn't reply right away as she seemed to lose her ability to speak. Daniel watched her expectantly, waiting for her answer until Huntress blinked stupidly, shook her head, then gathered up her clothes and walked past him to the showers, unable to comprehend just how peculiar this day had turned out to be./span/p 


	6. Call Me Maybe

p class="p1"span class="s1"em16th March, 2006./em/span/p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"As the teams medic, it was Zoe's job to be concerned about her friends. It was also her job to pick up on things that most other people didn't. She could clearly see the obvious things, like how Big Ears was favouring his uninjured arm and how Fuzzy still looked a little pained when he moved too suddenly. She didn't expect an award for seeing those things though. The injuries they had were hardly a secret. What she did notice though, was Stretch pause across the hanger, one hand pressed against his ribs as he took to breathe, clearly in pain. It was only a fleeting pause, barely more than a second, before he straightened and continued on his way. Everyone else was to engrossed in research or dozing, so they didn't class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"But Zoe did./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Abandoning her notes and her books, she slipped over to where he was rummaging through one of Wizard's many boxes of books and loose sheets of paper. She cleared her throat and he looked up at her./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Is everything okay?' he asked./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Looking back at the rest of the team, she crouched beside him. 'Are you hurt?'span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"He looked confused, before he shook his head. 'No. Why?'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'You looked like you were in pain just then,' She explained and she saw a slight flicker of surprise across his face, as if he wasn't expecting anyone to have class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Oh.' He paused. 'It's nothing. I just got caught by some rubble from the explosion when we were escaping Hamilcar's. It's just a bruise.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Zoe wasn't totally satisfied with that. 'If it caught you on the chest it might have broken a rib. Can I take a look?'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Stretch smiled tightly and stood, holding a thick book in one hand. 'I'm fine. Like I said, it's just a bruise. I've survived far worse.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"He made to go around her, but she stopped him by gently grabbing his arm. 'I'd like to check, just to make sure.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Politely he brushed her hand off. 'Zoe, really. Thank you for the concern, but you don't need to worry about it. I'll let you know if it gets worse.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"He went back to the main table and sat down, passing the book to Fuzzy who started flipping through it. Zoe remained where she was for a moment, biting her lip in thought, before she shook herself out of it and rejoined the rest of the class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"em5th November, class="Apple-converted-space" /span/em/span/p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"The plane landed with a roar on the tarmac of Tel Aviv international airport. Huntress, who hadn't slept at all on the flight home, watched through the small window as they sped down the runway, the lights of the city blurring past in the distance. Beside her, Archer was still asleep, despite the rough landing, which Huntress was honestly rather jealous class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"As the plane began to slow, she nudged him and he jerked awake, sitting up properly and rubbing his eyes. 'Are we there?'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Yes.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Leaning forward in his seat, Archer looked past her out of the window and he smiled. Huntress wasn't in much of a mood to smile, she was just too tired. The last mission had taken most of her energy so now all she really wanted to do was go home, take the worlds longest shower and sleep until class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Trudging wearily she followed Archer off the plane, raising her eyebrows at the slight spring in his step. He had been anxious to get home since they had first left, so naturally now they were back he had become visibly more excited. Not that this came as great shock to Huntress. He had been like this for about as long as she could remember. By now she had just learned to go along with class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"As soon as they stepped through the arrival gate, dragging their luggage behind them, the reason for his excitement became clear as he was suddenly yanked away from her and pulled into the arms of another waiting person. She huffed and rolled her eyes, turning to where he should have been standing. Instead, he was with another man who was holding him tightly as he kissed him. Naturally she recognised him right away; Archer's partner, with his soft curly hair, his soft facial features and his stupid round glasses that he had perched on top of his head. He was even wearing one of his stupid sweater vests and another one of his idiotic colourful class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"She cleared her throat loudly and they both turned to her class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'We should move if we want to get a taxi,' she said and Archer just sighed, looking away from her in class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Aya…' he started, but he was cut off./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'No need to worry about a taxi, I can give you both a lift.' His partner smiled politely at her, kissing Archer on the forehead one last time before reaching out to take his bag./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"He held a hand to offer to take Huntress's, but she pulled it away from him. 'I can manage Asher.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Of course,' Asher said, turning back to Archer and wrapping an arm around his shoulders, totally unfazed by her, as always. 'So, how are you both? You look worn out.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Archer laughed slightly. 'It was a tough one this time.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Do you want to talk about it?' Asher class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'You know I can't.' Archer kissed his cheek./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Walking beside them, Huntress paid them no heed until they reached Asher's car. She found that his neat little Mini was a good summary of him as a whole. It was clean, unassuming and totally useless against anything remotely tougher than it. He opened the boot, moving aside a few boxes of folders and books so he could fit their bags in. As he turned to take Huntress's from her he offered her his usual smile, a smile that she could tell was supposed to be an olive branch or a white flag. She just returned with a hard stare, burning the white flag before he'd even finished raising class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Do you just want me to take you home?' Asher asked sounding cheerful as class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'That's fine,' she said politely as she class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Fantastic.' He clapped his hands together and moved off to the drivers class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Huntress was about to climb into the back seat when a hand grabbed the door, stopping her from opening it. She looked up at Archer who was looking very class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'What?' she class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'We've talked about the attitude,' he said and she groaned class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Spare me Ben. I haven't slept in nearly thirty hours.' She tried to push his hand out of the way but he didn't class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'That doesn't mean that you can't be polite. Asher and I have been dating for over a year. We're engaged. You have to get over this,' he said harshly. 'Aya, I don't understand this. Is it because-'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'No,' she snapped. 'You know that's not the reason.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Then what?' He class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'It's nothing. Come on, I want to sleep.' She pushed his hand with more force and opened the door, sliding into the back seat of the class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"As she sat there in silence, ignoring the chatter from the front seat, she pulled out her phone and turned it back on. As soon as she did she saw that she had a text. She opened it and despite herself, she class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"It wasn't a particular long message, but it was class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1""My offer of a drink still stands. Call me — Daniel."/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"She toyed with the phone, thinking over the offer long and hard before she keyed in her class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1""Don't do phone calls. A drink is fine. I'm free on Friday night, 8 — Aya."/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"There was barely a minute gap before he replied and she had to shake her head at his class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1""Glad you answered this time. I was worried. 8 it is. I'll pick you up."/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1""Fantastic."/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"She left it at that and flipped the phone shut, dropping it back into her pocket without much of a thought. In the front seat, Ben turned to her./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'What was that?' He class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Oh nothing.' She smirked and sat back, looking out of the window. 'I just have a date. That's all.'/span/p 


	7. Date Night

p class="p1"span class="s1"em8th November, class="Apple-converted-space" /span/em/span/p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Ben, I need help,' Huntress said as she stared at the two dresses hanging from her cupboard. 'Black or purple?'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'What are you referring to?' Ben asked from the other end of the class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Dresses. May date is tonight and I don't know what to wear.' Huntress glared at the helpless pieces of clothing. 'Black or purple.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Ben sighed and she could practically see him flopping back onto a chair. 'Aya, do you really need my help for this?'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'You're my twin. It's in the contract,' she snapped. 'Now help me or I swear I'm coming over to your house and stealing all your left shoes.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Fine,' he grumbled. 'Who are you going out with?'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Daniel Leibovitz,' she said and she heard his grunt of surprise. 'Shut it. You're dating a history teacher. You don't get to tell me how to live my life.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"There was an irritated groan before Ben spoke again, 'Whatever. The black one.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"He hung up on her and she tossed the phone back onto her bed, before shrugging and pulling the black dress off its hanger. She slid it on and turned to herself in the mirror, twisting from side to side so she could see herself properly. It was a simple dress, backless, knee length and form fitting, but it was a good mix of elegant and eye-catching, which was something Huntress strived for./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Why thank you Daniel, I know I look good,' she muttered to herself as she leaned in to the mirror, combing through her dark hair, trying to style the waves into something other than her signature shoulder length mess. 'Please, I could do sexy in my sleep. I'm a sexy person. This took no effort at all.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"She stood back and straightened the dress, tugging the tight fabric around her waist, making sure that it didn't make her look too outrageously skinny. Then she nodded, satisfied and reached for her shoes. She paused, her hand hovering between the lower flats and her much nicer heels. Forgetting her freshly applied lipstick, she unconsciously bit her lip, trying to decide if adding another four inches on to her six foot height was a good idea. After a second she shook her head and snatched up the heels anyway./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'If you have a problem with tall, you can go fuck yourself.' She pulled her shoes on and stood, just in time for a polite knock at the class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"She smiled, brushing a final stray curl from her face, before she picked up her clutch and jacket and opened the door to greet class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"em16th March, 2006./em/span/p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"The idea that he was having to conduct surveillance on his own team of people, people who he was supposed to trust completely, made Jack feel sick to his stomach. He felt awful, almost like he was betraying their trust in the same way that one of them had broken his. But he had to come to terms with it as a necessary precaution. And short of interrogating all of them and making his suspicions known, this was the only way to plug the class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"His thoughts were interrupted by Zoe who knocked politely on his door before letting herself in. She smiled as she pulled up a chair and sat down, looking over his shoulder at the translated lines of text he was class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Is this for the Zeus piece?' She asked and he nodded class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'It is. Wizard told me that Lily had translated it, but it's just so vague,' he class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Reaching around she took it from him and sighed when she saw it. 'Jesus. This is going to be tough.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'I know.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'What are we going to do?'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'I'm not sure.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Zoe pulled a face and put the piece of paper back down. As she sat back, a small laptop on Jack's table caught her eye and she leaned forward in curiosity. When she saw what it was, her eyebrows shot up and she turned to Jack in shock./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'A communications net? Are you monitoring us?' She demanded and Jack class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'I don't have a choice Zoe. Not after what happened in Tunisia.' He ran a hand down his face, avoiding her class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'You think that one of us ratted you out?' Her voice was thick with class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'I can't take any chances. I hate to do it, believe me, but this has forced my hand.' He class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'And who, pray tell, are your main suspects? Me? Big Ears? Or are you more predictable and do you just think that it's Stretch?'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Jack didn't want to give away who his main suspect was, but his discomfort at her questioning showed and she stood up sharply. 'Zoe, it's not like that.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Oh I think it is. I know we have to be careful, but this level of distrust is not what we need.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'What I need is to make sure that there isn't a mole in my team Zoe. If I don't plug this leak, this could wind up getting us all killed.' He shot class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Zoe looked far from happy, but all the same she retreated and sat down again. Folding her arms she slumped back in her chair, still glaring at him class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Fine. But I disapprove.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'You can't tell any one.' Jack turned to her. 'If I'm wrong then they'll all be angry, but if I'm right, we could spur the mole to do something more drastic, which I doubt would end well for any of us.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'You want me to keep it a secret that you don't trust them?'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Zoe.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Very well,' she huffed, before taking a breath and reaching out to take the translation from him again. 'So, what do we do about this?'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Jack rested his elbows on the desk and nodded to himself in silence for a moment. 'I have an idea. But I don't think the team will like it.'/span/p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"em8th November, 1996./em/span/p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"It was nearly midnight by the time Huntress and Daniel set off back from the bar. Unable to get a taxi, Daniel had offered to walk her back to her apartment, even though it would scarcely have been ten minutes away. The walk took place in almost total silence, although it wasn't uncomfortable so Huntress was quite happy to let it continue. The only real sound was her heels on the pavement and that was fine with class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"When they came to the door of her apartment she paused and turned to him. 'Thanks for the drinks.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Thank you for the company,' he said and she class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'If you keep on paying for the alcohol then I might consider joining you again.' She smirked at him and he laughed. 'So, do you want to come inside?'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"He leaned against the railing. 'For what purpose?'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'To knit,' she said sarcastically. 'Why do you think?'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"He grinned. 'I quite like knitting.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'That had better be a joke,' she class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'It is,' he laughed and she class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Well then get your ass inside.'/span/p 


	8. Happy New Year

p class="p1"span class="s1"em1st January, 2000/em/span/p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Huntress couldn't help but feel remarkably satisfied as she strolled idly along the beach front of Tel Aviv. It was still early in the morning and most people were sleeping off the traditional New Years Eve hangover so that meant that she was all alone, which was exactly how she liked it. The turn of the century had been and gone, but still she hadn't class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Her hands tucked into her pockets, she breathed in the crisp ocean air and smiled. It felt good to get out when it was so quiet. It gave her time to think, time to breathe, time to be away from everyone so she could gather herself and be ready to face the class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Unfortunately the quiet gave her time to think, which she wasn't always appreciative class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"em28th August, 1994/em/span/p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Being assigned to guard an archaeological dig site was not Huntresses idea of fun. In fact, she found the whole thing incredibly tedious and unnecessary. If civil unrest was enough that they needed a guard, then as far as she was concerned, they shouldn't have been out there at all. But here they were, wasting away their time making sure that the dig wasn't interrupted by any unsavoury class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Perhaps she could have made it through the assignment if that was all it was; a few boring weeks in the desert. But there was something else, as always, that she had class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Her brother, who as usual had been deployed with her, had been behaving rather odd recently. And she had a sneaking suspicion that she knew class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"That afternoon, after her patrol had finished, she headed back to her barracks to change as always, watching her brother the whole time. Just as she predicted he changed quickly then, without saying anything much to anyone, he snuck out again. Frowning, she followed class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"He moved quickly, but casually so to the uninformed he just looked like he was out for a stroll, until he suddenly veered and ducked behind one of the demountable's. She tiptoed after him, peering around the corner to see where he had class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Sure enough, she saw the reason for his odd behaviour. A young man, around their age, was waiting for him. She recognised him as one of the archaeologists, a bookish, friendly man who seemed to do nothing but smile. He was smiling again when he saw her brother appear, but it was different class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'This all feels like a silly romance novel,' he said as Ben approached, coming to sit beside him. 'Kind of like Romeo and Juliet.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'It's nothing like that at all,' Ben laughed. 'I just need to be careful while I'm working. Spending excessive amounts of time with civilians that we're supposed to be guarding isn't the done thing.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"The archaeologist laughed with him and sat back on the heels of his palms. Huntress couldn't help but frown when she saw how close together the two were sitting, their fingers brushing against each other on the ground. She pressed herself close to the building, keeping out of sight while still being able to hear. It was all small talk, innocent enough, just two people getting to know each other. But it was how they were sitting, how close they were, that was her greatest class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"It wasn't that she was opposed to her brother finding himself a partner, it was the timing of it. While they were on duty, this wasn't the done thing and he should have known better. She was tempted to walk over to break it up, but then the archaeologist said something that must have been funny because they both started to laugh. She stopped where she was when she saw how broad his smile was and how he leaned in to the archaeologist as he laughed, gripping his arm. The curly haired archaeologist patted his hand, lacing their fingers together class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Hanging back, she continued to watch for a while longer, wondering if she should leave when the conversation between the two seemed to come to a class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'I need to go.' The archaeologist stood. 'Otherwise I'll have a very angry supervisor hunting me down.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Ben laughed at that as he stood as well. The archaeologist paused for a second, wetting his lower lip nervously. Then he quickly leaned in and kissed Ben fleetingly. It lasted no more than a second before he stepped back with a goofy, awkward class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'I'll see you tomorrow,' he said, his voice cracking with class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Huntress ducked inside the demountable as the two parted ways, not wanting to be seen just yet. Lurking behind the door, Huntress waited until the archaeologist had passed by. Ben followed a minute later and she quickly reached out and grabbed the back of his shirt. He let out a startled squawk as she yanked him back into the room with her, slamming the door behind class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"He brushed her off and glared at her. 'What the hell was that for?'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'What are you doing?' She class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'What do you mean?'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'I saw you, with that archaeologist,' she said and he went class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'It's nothing, I promise. We're just…friends.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'He kissed you goodnight.' She leaned against the door, trapping him inside with class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'You saw that?' He said sheepishly and she class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Of course I saw. You are far from subtle you idiot.' She flicked him on the forehead and he winced. 'What are you doing? This is stupid, even for you.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'This is nothing to worry about,' Ben said, gathering himself. 'It's not like I'm breaking the law.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'No. But you could be in so much trouble if they find out about this. You need to stop.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"He looked downcast at her resolute tone. 'But-'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'No buts.' She cut him off with a sharp wave of her hand. 'You are going to be smart about this and you're going to be responsible. No more fooling around while we're on the job.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"She flicked him again, this time on the tip of his nose and he scowled, looking away sourly. She felt a little bad about it until she saw a familiar glint in his eye and he smiled class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Then I suppose you'll have no problems if I ask him out after we get back, in less than two weeks,' he said and she made a startled noise of class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'That is not what I meant,' she protested but he just pushed past her so he could get to the door, opening it with a class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Isn't it?' He shrugged and she glared, following him out of the room. 'What's the problem Aya?'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'The problem is he's some soft history nut who thinks that sweater vests are fashionable, that's what,' she grumbled and he just class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'All the more reason to date him.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"With that he leaned in and flicked her between the eyes, returning the favour, before he smiled and sauntered away in the full knowledge that he had left her uncharacteristically class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"em1st January, 2000/em/span/p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"When Daniel stood beside her with his arm around her shoulders it served as a reminder that they were actually properly together. This wasn't some stupid casual fling. No, this was a real, four year long relationship which had all started over drinks and stupid jokes. Sometimes she wasn't sure how this made her feel, especially when they did standard couple activities, like going to visit relatives on New Years Day with an offering of a freshly baked Tu bi'Shvat* cake. That still felt class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"It felt a little less weird when her brother opened the door, already smiling, and she was quickly pulled into a standard, firm hug. She smiled and rolled her eyes as she hugged him back./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Please don't tell me that your New Years resolution is to be even more cheerful,' she joked and he class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'For your sake, thankfully not,' he said as he turned to Daniel, clasping his hand in a firm shake. 'Hello Daniel.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Happy New Year Cohen,' Daniel said class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Huntress nudged him firmly in the ribs as Ben turned to let them in. 'Behave.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'I am,' he class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"They followed Ben into his home, leaving their shoes by the door. Her brothers apartment was far cosier than hers, filled with books, old looking museum style collectables and comfy furniture. Standing in the attached kitchen was Asher and Huntress had to remind herself to smile as he hurried class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Happy New Year Aya,' he said cheerfully, opening his arms for a class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Huntress ducked around it and went in for a handshake instead. Beside Asher, Ben's jaw tightened, but he said nothing and Asher didn't so much as pause. Clasping her hand tightly he shook it firmly with a grin./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'I hope you've made some good resolutions,' he said. 'I always found that the fun part.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"She forced a smile. 'I don't do resolutions.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Fair enough.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"She was grateful when more members of their family arrived and, after a quick round of handshakes and hugs, the attention moved away from her completely. With Daniel occupied by a conversation with her father, she slipped unnoticed outside onto the balcony. She didn't get to be alone for long though, but when she turned to tell whoever was bothering her to go away, she saw that it was her brother. He smiled at her, taking a seat on one of the deck class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Are you okay?' He asked and she class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Fine. Did you get your deployment notice?'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'I did.' He sighed. 'No rest for the wicked I suppose.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"She laughed and took a seat opposite him. Casting a quick look back into the house, making sure that no one else was watching, she slipped a cigarette from her pocket and lit it. Almost immediately though it was pulled from her class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Those are bad for you,' Ben said, stubbing it out. 'I thought you had quit.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Quitting would imply I had a problem. I don't smoke often. Only when I'm stressed,' she said, absently flipping open her lighter and staring at the tiny flame./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Ben raised an eyebrow. 'And what are you stressed about?'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'No idea.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"He snorted, tossing the now extinguished cigarette into the trash. Kicking back in her chair, Huntress rested her feet up on the table, folding her hands behind her head as she studied the now bustling streets of the city. There was silence until Ben suddenly spoke, his voice soft, like he was worried someone inside would class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Do you know where Aphrodite has been recently,' he said, and Huntress quickly noticed that it wasn't a class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Sitting up properly she shook her head. 'No. Last I heard she had transferred to Mossad.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'She did. She's been on an intelligence mission for the last few months.' Ben pulled his chair closer to the table and Huntress quickly leaned in further. 'You'll never guess who's back in action.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Who?' Huntress was class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Jack West Jr,' he said and Huntress inhaled sharply in surprise. 'I was surprised as well. But apparently he's been doing some sort of undercover work of his own for the last few years. And that's not all.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'There's more?'span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'From what Aphrodite found, it's not a solo mission. It looks like he has a team assembled, but an international one. All of the people come from different countries around the world. There was talk of Ireland, Spain and even the UAE.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'That's insane.' Huntress shook her head. 'So what's Mossad going to do with that do you think?'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'No idea. But Aphrodite thinks that it's possible they'll want to send someone in, to get a closer look at what they're doing.' Ben class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'How do you know any of this? This information should be confidential,' Huntress said, raising an class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Ben kicked back in his chair with an innocent smile. 'I have my ways.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"She laughed. 'And people call me manipulative, you little shit. You're just as bad.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"He shrugged, clearly proud of himself as he looked up at the clear blue sky. 'Oh I'm well aware.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Does this mean you'll finally give up your pretend halo then?'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Not a chance.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"She shook her head and slapped him from across the table. 'One day I will manage to push you off that stupid pedestal everyone else has you on.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"He smiled sweetly at her and batted her hand away. 'One day maybe. But not yet. No, I think this is going to be a very good year.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Groaning, she rubbed her temples, although she couldn't help her own grin. 'Thanks idiot. Now you've jinxed it.'/span/p 


	9. Setting things in motion

p class="p1"span class="s1"em16th March, 2006/em/span/p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Jack knew that most of the people in his team were unhappy with his decision to not only involve a terrorist in their mission, but to break said terrorist out of one of the most secure prisons in the world. But no one was more angry with him than Stretch. The second the meeting was over he had stormed out of the main hanger, disappearing somewhere into the plane. Jack decided to just let him go; he just didn't have the energy to fight him over class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"In the end, it was Zoe who decided to approach the issue. Heading down into the bottom of the plane, she sighed when she found Stretch tucked away into a far corner, glaring angrily at the side of a crate that he was chipping away at with a knife. Softly she reached over and took the knife from his class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'What did the poor box ever do to you?' She said gently and he huffed, looking away as she sat down on the crate. 'Do you want to talk about this at all?'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'No,' he class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'You know that no one else is happy about this,' she said and he looked up at her. 'But we're at a loss here.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Surely there are other people who we could consult,' he said class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'I'm sure there are. But no one with as much knowledge as him.' She leaned forward to rest a hand on his knee. 'You sure you don't want to talk about it?'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'I'm sure.'/span/p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"em13th February, 2000/em/span/p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"It must have been a statement from Avenger that he was starting to trust them a little more again, because Huntress found herself alone out on patrol with Archer. They had no tag alongs, no warnings about messing things up. He had simply assigned them a task and told them to get on their way. Honestly, she had been a little surprised at that, considering that he had been successfully holding a grudge against them for the last four class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Walking alongside Archer, Huntress would occasionally glance from the landscape to her brother. He was engrossed in his work, his eyes scanning the area in a search for anything that was out of the ordinary. His barrette rifle was slung in its harness across his back, too big for him to hold while he walked, so instead he simply held his much smaller Uzi submachine gun, ready for any kind of attack. She also noticed that he hadn't removed his wedding band, something which he usually did when they left the class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Everything is very quiet,' he said, drawing her attention back to their class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'It is. Do you suppose he sent us out somewhere that we couldn't get into trouble?' She joked and he class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'It wouldn't surprise me. He'll be punishing us for the Sudan until the day we die.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"It was her turn to laugh quietly as she looked away to study the ruined buildings they were bypassing. Their patrol took them through the remains of an old town which had probably been no more than a tiny farming village during its peak. Now it was little more than a collection of dusty ruins, crumbling into dust as they were beaten down by the harsh desert. It was a ghost town, totally devoid of life, but always somewhere to be cautious about. The ruins provided dozens of potential hiding places, which would have made an ambush simple./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"She paused on the path, holding up her hand to signal Archer to stop as well. They both came to halt just outside the main cluster of buildings. Silently, they performed a surface scan of the area as Huntress pulled out her heat radar, trying to see if there was anyone lurking behind the stone class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Anything?' Archer asked class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Not that I can see,' she whispered. 'Come on.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Guns at the ready they entered the town, moving so that any time they had both sides of the path covered. They moved silently, almost cat like across the dusty, rocky ground, careful to avoid disturbing anything along the way. As they reached the outskirts though, Huntress froze when she saw something just beyond the crumbled retaining wall of one of the buildings. A jeep, sitting there abandoned and empty. At once she gripped her gun tighter, holding it a little higher, primed and ready to fire. Beside her, she noticed that Archer wasn't doing the same./span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'It's just one of ours,' he said, studying the truck. 'Relax.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'What is it doing out here?' Huntress demanded. 'We don't just leave our gear lying around.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"He shrugged. 'If you had been paying attention earlier, you would have heard that yesterdays patrol had to leave it after it broke down. They'll collect it when the big convoy trucks arrive tomorrow so they can tow it.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Huntress frowned and raised an eyebrow, studying the truck in confusion. 'When was that said?'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'This morning, just before we got our assignments. You were too busy making goo goo eyes at Daniel.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"She scoffed in shock and turned to whack him in the chest with the back of her hand. 'I was not.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'You were. It was quite funny.' He caught her next hit and pushed her hand away. 'Come on, we have more to do.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"He started to make his way back to the road, but Huntress was still staring at the truck. Ignoring her brother, she walked towards it, slinging her rifle over her shoulder. Behind her, he groaned but followed her class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Aya, come on,' he grumbled. 'I don't fancy telling Avenger that we didn't finish our patrol because you wanted to play with the truck.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"She shot him a glare over her shoulder and opened the bonnet, peering inside the hood at the engine. It all appeared to be fine and the more she studied it, the more confused she got about why it would have broken class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'That's odd,' she muttered and Archer came to stand beside class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'What's odd?' He class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'The engine seems to be just fine.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"He wasn't impressed and leaned heavily against the side window of the trucks cab, crossing his arms. 'Then maybe it's a problem with the brake line. Or the axel. Or something electrical. The battery could be flat. Aya, this isn't our job.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"With a huff she leaned around the bonnet and glowered at him. 'You're being really touchy at the moment Ben.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"'And you're being exceptionally hard headed.' He countered. 'Let's move.'/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"She growled, annoyed at his tone and his attitude, and slammed the bonnet class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Neither of them were expecting it when the truck suddenly class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p2" /p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Unable to move and hearing only a piercing ring in her ears, Huntress lay on the ground staring up at the smoke and the rippling cornea of the sun. She could feel nothing, like she was no longer present in her body after the explosion. There was no pain, no sensation, no nothing. Just smoke and dust and class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"She tried to move her head, looking to the side away from the sun towards the smoking remains of the car. It was flipped on its roof not far from her head and glass littered the ground around class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Beyond the shattered window of the car she saw movement and some part of her sluggish brain must have registered it enough to seize her attention. Lying on the ground probably no more than five meters from her was Ben. He was sprawled awkwardly on his stomach, but seemed to be waking up because he moved again, lifting his head from the rocky sand underneath class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p  
p class="p1"span class="s1"Huntress wanted to reach out to him, but her grip on consciousness of fading fast. The last thing she could really recollect was seeing a set of boots appear in the window beside Ben. Then he disappeared from view and her world went black./span/p 


End file.
